Our Favorite Resort: Doña Jovita Resort

Recent pictures from our Doña Jovita trip go here.


If you want a to go on a summer vacation where you can swim in either cool water or hot spring-waters, be one with nature and go on a hike, and have a lot of wonderful photos, you have to go to Doña Jovita in Laguna. It's our favorite getaway, easy to reach if you live in Calamba (like I do), and fairly inexpensive--you get the quality for your money. Recently they have also improved their site to be able to accommodate weddings and such. My family and relatives have been going to Doña Jovita for almost seven (?!) years now. We make it a habit to drop by once a year.


TIP: If you want a peaceful, quiet atmosphere, don't go there at April or May. Be a boss like me and my aunt and go there on February, or early March. We were, literally, save for the staff, the only people in the resort.


How to get there:
From Calamba, ride a jeep that will go to UP Los Banos. Say Dona Jovita and you're set. Tell the driver to drop you off.

Doña Jovita has 6 or 7 pools--some are cold water, and some are 'hot spring' water. (And there are various 'mini pools' and jacuzzi-like pools, too!) It's good because when the weather is cold you can choose to jump into a pool of hot water instead. (I prefer hot water myself)

This one is a 'mini-pool' against a stone wall. They have water running down the wall too, to make it look like a waterfall.

More scenes and pictures from Jovita:

If you're looking for pretty rocks and greenery, this resort has it.

Beside one of the pools. This one is has hot water, and is my favorite among all their pools.

You can hike up these steps on a hill quite a distance from the resort to reach a "grotto".

Many years ago, we slept over at this resort, renting one of their awesome cottages that will remind you so much of nature. Of course, we brought our own food, too!

Me and le aunt got hungry after all the swimming and waddling around and the sunbathing, so we ordered some food from the resort restaurant and asked it to be served to our table (which was conveniently one step away from the pool. We moved it there because no one else was around anyway. -_-)

The order was for some Pancit Bihon. It tasted home-made and good, not like those ridiculous instant things. With that being said, you'll also have to wait quite a while for the order to arrive. Later my aunt also ordered some cappuccino, which she remarked was good, but half the cup was just foam. Haha. XD

I highly encourage everyone to visit Dona Jovita. And I'm not even getting paid to do this. It's a beautiful place where you can swim in whatever water you prefer, hot or cold, and be one with nature as well, and take a lot of amazing photos!

And here is a picture of me sunbathing in a bikini:

No, I'm just kidding. XD

Click Here to See Dona Jovita's Facebook page and More Pics

All Things Starbucks Here

All things Starbucks-related go here.


I don't frequent Starbucks because we all know it's pretty expensive for a middle-class student. If I want coffee or hot choco, I'll always go to cheaper alternatives, like McDonalds' (they have awesome hot choco) or Country Style (where you can get a cup of brewed coffee + free refill for only P40). And besides, my last experience drinking a Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks ended up in me getting palpitations.


But I met friends who worked there, and also, my aunt loves going there, and so we would always cap our mall trips this vacation season with going to Starbucks to get some coffee or tea for her, hot choco for me. It was almost a once-a-day ritual during our stay at Calamba, where we were in SM Calamba almost every day.

9:45 AM , at Starbucks SM Calamba. Just got off the bus and was so hungry I just dove into everything, forgetting to take a picture. Fail.

I always order their Hot Choco. I prefer the Classic one as opposed to the Signature one.

White Chocolate Mocha Latté. Decaf. Yummy. I should order all my coffee decaf from now on. It's sweet and light, oozing with the white choco flavor.

Le Aunt Merle enjoying her Mocha Latté.

The staff at the store in Calamba were also very nice, open, and smiling, good to you even when you asked them ridiculous questions. Save for one woman who was upset over something and yelling at the other employees. My friends who worked at Starbucks would be angry to hear that. They always told me everyone in Starbucks stores are nice, from the Barista to the Managers. Meh.

Cheers to the Starbucks SM Calamba store for putting up with us. From Jakilyn Chipeco. 

Revisiting Intramuros

My aunt and I walked around a place both dear to our hearts recently--Intramuros. We grew up here. She grew up here in her youth and I did, too, for almost ten years of my life. Every now and then we take it upon ourselves to go back to where we all originally were from. We love seeing the changes, the improvements, and the things that haven't changed at all.
One big change that wasn't there four years ago when I still frequented Intramuros because of studying there was The Bayleaf Hotel.

The Bayleaf is associated with Lyceum of the Philippines University, where I studied for a good two years, too. The school, by the way, is nice--you have great facilities but not so stressful studies, and LPU has a good name that you'd want on your CV. But that doesn't save you from crappy teachers. You'll still have them. Maybe more of them in a school like this than in a smaller school.


It seems that they accept job applicantions too, but I doubt you'd have a good chance if you weren't a graduate of LPU yourself.


All this stuff really reminds me of a long-buried-should-be-dead-desire to finish my studies in a decent school.